Conor McGregor and Marc Goddard Timeline

There has been much made about Conor McGregor lately, and it hasn’t been for fighting. It has been around two separate incidents involving MMA official Marc Goddard.

Since October of this year, Marc Goddard and Conor McGregor have had very public confrontations during and following fights that McGregor had been in attendance.

The first incident took place at UFC Gdansk in October when McGregor was acting as an unofficial cornerman for Artem Lobov, when he fought against Andre Fili. In the midst of the preliminary bout on the card, Goddard reprimanded McGregor who was shouting directions to Lobov throughout the match, until Goddard stepped in and forced McGregor to leave the area.

“Conor was basically acting like a fourth cornerman. Walking around the cage side wherever and whenever he wanted. When Fili took down Artem, Conor was right there. That’s simply not fair and not allowed. I won’t have it. He can’t do as he pleases.”

Goddard emphasized that just because McGregor may be the face of the UFC, if not all of modern combat sports, it doesn’t mean he can get away with everything he does. Goddard said he wouldn’t have interfered if McGregor was doing what he did from the crowd.

“If Conor had stood up, stayed at his seat, then he could have shouted till his hearts content. That’s what he’s supposed to do. But what he simply cannot do, what he is not allowed to do, is approach the cage at any point and as I say act as the fourth corner. That’s unfair and unjust. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’ve done this forever, in any country in any situation. My integrity is not wavered and neither is the rules.”

The Gdansk event is also where McGregor was caught saying a homophobic slur in the locker room in regards to Lobov, regarding Fili.

The two would clash for a second time on November 10th at Bellator 187, where another McGregor teammate, Charlie Ward knocked out John Redmond in the first round. Now, this wouldn’t be an issue, but before the official, Marc Goddard, could make it known to the judges, Conor McGregor barrels into the cage embracing Ward.

As soon as that began to happen, Goddard attempted to get McGregor out of the cage.

McGregor, who seemed to take exception with Goddard telling him to leave and touching his chest, then shouted back at Goddard and eventually shoved Goddard as he was checking on Redmond, who was still kneeling on the mat. Goddard did not shove McGregor back. Moments later, McGregor was escorted out and left the cage on his own.

When McGregor initially left the cage, he turned around and ran back into the enclosure shouting “that was a f*cking stoppage” before he was again asked to leave.

It is unknown if there will be any repercussions to McGregor’s behavior towards an official, or if it was just a coincidence that Goddard would be the official for a fight featuring one of McGregor’s teammates.
According to John Redmond’s coach, Andy Ryan, Bellator should shoulder the blame as event security did little to stop McGregor, because the promotion wanted the Irish superstar to be featured on the broadcast of the event.

“Conor was standing directly behind us. He wasn’t interfering with our cornering or anything like that, but there was no event security around him whatsoever apart from the people that he had with him.

“I think it meant a lot for them to have him at their show, and they didn’t think about what would happen if things boiled over.

“A fan jumped into the cage during the last fight of the night and the security dealt with the situation straight away. They weren’t treating Conor like anyone else that jumped in the cage and that’s probably why things were able escalate to the level that it did.”

Ryan recalled what happened on Friday night, and claimed that he had to act as security as more fans tried to follow McGregor into the cage.

“The 10-second warning went off and me and John Donnelly were making our way towards the cage. I didn’t see John (Redmond) getting hit, but then I obviously saw the aftermath,” he remembered.

“After Conor jumped into the cage, I had to start doing security on the cage door myself because a load of fans were trying to run in with him.”

Coach Ryan believes things took a turn for the worse when Goddard explained that he had yet to stop the fight, having not been given adequate time to communicate with the commission due to the chaos in the cage.

“With all this going on, Marc Goddard hadn’t got a chance to talk to the commission to see what was happening. He had jumped in just before the round ended, and with everything that was going on, he hadn’t got time to establish whether the fight had been brought to an end yet.,”

“He was trying to get some order back in the cage and that’s why he said, ‘the fight’s not over, lads, you’re going to have to leave the cage.’

“That’s when all the mayhem happened. I think Conor thought the fight was going to continue and that’s when he went over to him and had words.”

One would have to think heading into 2018, if McGregor is slated to fight in Europe for the UFC, that Marc Goddard will not be the official for the fight, but yet again who knows? The controversy and conversation for every Conor McGregor fight grows with his notoriety, especially with the “Us vs. Them” mentality he brings to the table, this could be another addition to the narrative for the UFC star